Horror in Store for Sydney’s QUEER SCREEN FILM FEST

The Queer Screen Film Fest returns for its fourth year in Sydney, taking place from the 20th until the 25th of September at Event Cinemas George Street. This season’s festival offers up an exceptionally high calibre of queer film and documentary, our personal picks being Park Chan-Wook’s THE HANDMAIDEN and international festival favourite, YOU’RE KILLING ME.

Thursday 22 September 6.15pmTHE HANDMAIDEN
Your fingers will never feel the same. THE HANDMAINDEN, directed by Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Thirst) is a thriller intertwined with an erotic lesbian love story. Adapted from Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, it premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2016. This immersive film is structured in three parts to reflect the main characters Nam Sookee (Kim Tae-ri), Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) and Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo). The setting is relocated from Waters’ Victorian era London to 1930s Korea under Japanese rule. The criminal Count Fujiwara arranges for petty thief Sookee to move from her slum and work as a handmaiden to Lady Hideko. He tasks Sookee with preparing the Lady for love and arranged marriage, but his ill intentions are waylaid when the two women discover hidden feelings for one another. The hypnotic soundtrack and sensual story will immerse you utterly in its tale of class, fraud and revenge. The atmosphere of Korea at the time is rendered perfectly, and the relationship between Sookee and Hideko fascinating as it unfolds.
Saturday 24 September 6.30pmYOU’RE KILLING ME
A sharp horror-comedy about West Hollywood gays so self-absorbed they don’t even realise their new friend is a serial killer. George, a narcissistic wannabe Internet star (played by actual Internet star Jeffrey Self), has fallen deeply for a new man, the monotonous but gorgeous Joe. As the relationship develops, George seems to be missing more and more of his friends, and he hardly seems to care. Will George’s remaining friends bother to notice what’s happening to them? YOU’RE KILLING ME is a genuinely funny ride, with sharp social commentary on modern gay life, and a few scares thrown in. Written by Jeffrey Self (Gay of Thrones, 90210), and starring a line-up of great LA comedians, including Matthew Wilkas (Gayby), Bryan Safi (Throwing Shade), and Drew Droege (The Chloe Videos, a YouTube classic), this film makes for a great Saturday night out.
For session and ticketing information, visit the festival site here for more details.